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I do not, I spent most of my early years learning how to write and type, then came grammar and punctuation, I try my hardest but it does not help, my mind wanders, I need to keep my ADHD in check, I know, but I am only 15 for gods sake.

Secondly, I know a person who is gay, it does not 'creep me out' in the slightest when I talk to him.

and forgive me fro trying to be politically correct, I am a bit socially inept at wording my sentences carefully and tend to say what springs to mind. Would you rather me having said 'Queers'? because I was trying not to come across like that.

ineptus astartes wrote:I do not, I spent most of my early years learning how to write and type, then came grammar and punctuation, I try my hardest but it does not help, my mind wanders, I need to keep my ADHD in check, I know, but I am only 15 for gods sake.

Secondly, I know a person who is gay, it does not 'creep me out' in the slightest when I talk to him.

and forgive me fro trying to be politically correct, I am a bit socially inept at wording my sentences carefully and tend to say what springs to mind. Would you rather me having said 'Queers'? because I was trying not to come across like that.

Well, now, that seems a lot more reasonable. I'm sorry if I came across a bit draconian, but homophobia is something that makes me very angry. Thank you for reaffirming your position, it's cleared things up a lot for me and I apologise for causing offence as I see that I did indeed get the wrong end of the stick. Also, with regard to the dyslexia thing, a lot of people use it as a crutch or excuse online and, once again, that's like a red rag to a bull for me. I can see now that you're a decent guy and that you're doing your best, so thanks for that. Just FYI, though, whilst 'those people' might seem politically correct, it is most often used by crypto-homophobes. The same kind of people who say 'I'm not racist, but' and then some something horrifically racist. You'd be better off saying 'gay people' to keep people like me off your back.

Further to that point, I suspect that the people pushing for this are not even gay, but are rather one of these advocacy groups who push minority causes to make themselves feel important and superior. Most gay people would find the idea of this to be little more than a joke, I suspect, and insulting at worst.

No problem, I don't hold grudges.

Does this matter that much?!?

mnnot anymore, they (sesame street) just said no.

If you want gay puppets, go and see Avenue Q.
Most of the cast worked on SS anyway.

It's not really the right show for activists to see, though.

there IS a show about gay puppets? rule34 in action.

halonachos wrote:Bert and Ernie aren't homosexuals, they're just roommates who are often at odds with each other. Making them marry is a political agenda that shouldn't be involved in a kids program that has traditionally not pushed political agendas and having them marry would be even more confusing for kids.

The four kids that are still watching Sesame street?

Besides Bert posted on facebook that IS gay.

Gay muppets are here and they are queer. Get over it.

Do we really need to touch on sexuality on a kids program? I mean this show is for 3-7 year olds. How do you explain what gay is to a kid that young. "Well a gay guy likes to spend his time with other guys and doesn't like girls." Um when I was 5 I would rather spend time with boys and I didn't like girls very much. I sure wasn't gay though, but if that was your explanation I probably would have thought that's what I was.

Are there expressly straight characters and couples on sesame street? I don't really think so. This whole thing is stupid.

that was my concern, but they said NO to him anyways, they announced that bert and ernie are both hermaphrodites and have no feelings for anyone...that sounded a lot less strange in my head.

Andrew1975 wrote:Do we really need to touch on sexuality on a kids program? I mean this show is for 3-7 year olds. How do you explain what gay is to a kid that young. "Well a gay guy likes to spend his time with other guys and doesn't like girls." Um when I was 5 I would rather spend time with boys and I didn't like girls very much. I sure wasn't gay though, but if that was your explanation I probably would have thought that's what I was.

Are there expressly straight characters and couples on sesame street?

Missing the point.

Heterosexuality is stated/shown in various non-verbal ways in rapid fire symbolism every minute on tv. Watch TV for an hout and see how many commercials/shows show heteros dating, hugging, dating, etc., etc. Now watch another hour of tv and see how many homosexual unions are presented that are NOT used for comic relief or to represent a stereotype on some sitcom or that is the focus of a given show. We have lots of programming thsat has "the gay neighbor" or the "the fruity interior decorator" type stuff in which the homosexuality is the focus/comic relief of the show/character, but rarely is a gay character allowed to have a focus outside of his sexuality. I think the idea is to have characters in which their sexuality ISN"T what defines them, but they are able to express their love/relationship just as openly as heterosexuals.

Noone is expecting bert and Ernie to discuss their sex life with kids, in fact most kids ony question why they have two "mommies' or two "daddies" after some homophobic ass jarrs their reality by bringing t up as a problem/deviant behavior, etc.

The hope is to be able to simply have characters that represent homosexual individuals in ways other then as comic relief or as the focus of a hallmark special. The idea is to not to have to talk about it but simply accept it's presence without needin to blow it up into a big debate/scene, and this will only happen with exposure.

CT GAMER wrote:Heterosexuality is stated/shown in various non-verbal ways in rapid fire symbolism every minute on tv. Watch TV for an hout and see how many commercials/shows show heteros dating, hugging, dating, etc., etc. Now watch another hour of tv and see how many homosexual unions are presented that are NOT used for comic relief or to represent a stereotype on some sitcom or that is the focus of a given show.

Note: this doesn't apply to HGTV, Bravo, or Food TV.

I'm curious, how often should gay couples be shown on TV? Half the time? One percent of the time? Proportionate to the gay population? Homosexuality isn't that common (top end estimates around 10%), so most kids probably won't notice it as "normal" unless you're showing gay relationships more often than it actually occurs in the real world. At which point, you may actually be teaching homosexuality* rather than teaching acceptance. Which a lot of people might have a problem with.

* and yes, I disagree with the idea of a 'gay gene.'

biccat wrote:

I'm curious, how often should gay couples be shown on TV?

I don't know, but I guess it would probably be nice if it happened more times in day/week/month then the average kid witnesses/hears deliberate homophobia or is told something is "gay" or that so and so is a "homo" or that his dad/parents tell him to not be a "sissie", etc. in that same time period, since it will probably require a fair amount of exposure to reverse an ingrained societal prejudice like homophobia.

So how often do you think that an anti-homosexua/stereotypicall comment/image is encountered on average in a day/week/month/year by the average child?

Homophobia is learned behavior. kids are conditioned to be homophobic. Thus a similar process will most likely need to be employed to counter the daily barrage of homophobic messages the average child encounters in his formative years don't you think?

I think things meant to leave impressions should be represented in "realistic" ways (considering the given universe) so as to not have to clarify how much is too much of any one thing. Have a gay man (which has to have happened more than once) as a guest on the show to show they exist. Beyond Katy Perry's boobs, I don't really see them as censoring anything.